Cookie’s
Cause
“They would not find me changed from him they knew—Only more sure of all I thought was true.”
~Robert Frost
Our Mom, Kristin Gentilini
Born on October 30, 1963 to George and Margaret Manojlovic, our mom was a Brooklyn girl through and through. Growing up in Bay Ridge, she enjoyed playing softball, watching the boats pass from the windows of Fort Hamilton High School, and most importantly, spending time with her friends (who would end up becoming her life-long sisters). She was deeply rooted in her heritage and was fortunate to spend her summers with her relatives in Norway and Serbia–places that she was later able to visit with her own family. Even as a kid, she was unapologetically herself, making it even more fitting that she would choose the above quote for her high school yearbook.
Cookie with her beloved mother, Margaret, celebrating their Norwegian pride.
She attended St. John’s University and worked at Altria after receiving her MBA, where she met our dad, Larry. Despite being a self-proclaimed “odd couple,” the two were married in 1988 and together raised us: their two daughters. It was clear to everyone who met her that Cookie’s pride and joy was being a mom. When she wasn’t busy helping with homework, working at the school store, or being a spectator at one of our sports games, our mom loved skiing, riding her bike, going on her daily walks, and admiring the bees as she sat on our front steps with her cup of tea. Despite not having any blood relatives in the United States, she made sure to stay connected with her family overseas, and created her own family in the friends she made along the way, who she admired dearly. She instilled in us a love of adventure, and the three of us quickly became the very best travel buddies.
Our mom was wholeheartedly intent on doing everything she could to give us the very best life, and prioritized happiness above all else. She reminded us every second of every single day how much she loved us, and truly practiced what she preached: that life is too short to sweat the small stuff, and to just enjoy the ride. She summed it up best in card she wrote to Lara almost 10 years ago: “Don’t wish for an easy life, because life is more rich with some ups & downs.” To her, it was simple: “Always see the good, and you will have a good life.”
Cookie was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in June 2015. The same summer, she traveled to Peru. In 2016, she traveled to China. In 2017, she traveled to Norway with Justine and the Bahamas with Lara. In 2018, she traveled to Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. In the winter of 2019, she and Justine went skiing in Colorado. That summer, she watched Lara receive her PhD; moved her out of her 5th-floor apartment in Manhattan; and drove a moving truck with all of Lara’s belongings more than 15 hours to St. Louis. Needless to say, she never stopped pursuing happiness for herself and those around her.
She didn’t miss a single beat or utter a single complaint, even when undergoing chemotherapy or driving herself to the city every day for weeks to receive radiation before beginning TM. Even during one of her last weeks in the hospital, she continued to look on the bright side, always telling us how lucky she was for a room with a view.
A Snapchat that our mom sent with excitement and gratitude for the view from her hospital room. She was always looking for the good in life.
Our mom passed away on October 16, 2019, only a few weeks before her 56th birthday and 31st wedding anniversary.
The care our mom received from her doctors (especially Dr. Linda Vahdat and Dr. Mark Rosenberg) added literal and figurative years to her life, and we could not be more indebted to them. Our mom maximized the cancerous years of her life in the same way she had maximized those before, and it was undoubtedly because of her pursuit of TM. We are indescribably grateful to the staff at Memorial Sloan Kettering for treating our mom like family, and to her doctors for fighting relentlessly to ensure that all women with TNBC get to experience the quality of life our mom experienced. The memories we were able to make with our mom in the 4+ years she had cancer are truly invaluable, and they're because of everyone who fought for her–including Cookie herself.
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particularly difficult cancer to treat in that estrogen, progesterone, and the HER2 gene are not present in the cancer tumor, rendering generic treatments ineffective. “Triple-negative breast cancer is considered to be more aggressive and have a poorer prognosis than other types of breast cancer, mainly because there are fewer targeted medicines that treat triple-negative breast cancer” (breastcancer.org).
By identifying methods for targeting the biological environments that tumors need to grow and spread, doctors have revolutionized the fight against TNBC through the copper depletion compound tetrahiomolybdate (TM). Based on initial research, it is already clear that TM is vital to the survival of patients with TNBC, with possible implications for other difficult-to-treat cancers (e.g., ovarian cancer, lung cancer).
Dr. Linda T. Vahdat
Some may call it fate, but the relationship between Cookie and Dr. Vahdat actually began long before our mom’s TNBC diagnosis, as Dr. Vahdat’s father was Cookie’s pediatrician. Fast forward a few decades, and Dr. Vahdat is now the Chief of Medical Oncology and Clinical Director of Cancer Services at Norwalk Hospital, in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Vahdat and her research team have been working diligently to develop new ways of helping woman with high risk for recurrence breast cancer manage their disease, including through the use of TM. More specifically, her clinical phase II trial is designed to directly compare patients treated with TM to those undergoing more traditional approaches.
To read more information about Dr. Vahdat, including her research and publications, please visit the following websites:
Source: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctors/linda-vahdat
Fred’s Team & Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Fred’s Team is Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s (MSK) running program. Fred’s Team helps runners raise money for an area of cancer research that means the most to them–in our case, with 100% of our funds raised going to Dr. Vahdat’s research.
Fred’s Team began in 1991 with Fred Lebow: running legend and co-founder of the New York City Marathon, who was battling brain cancer at the time. While being treated as MSK, he would run up and down the hallways, reminding us of our mom’s frequent laps around the 10th floor. That year, he designated MSK the first official charity of the iconic race, and the rest is history. Since the creation of Fred’s Team, runners have been participating in races around the world to raise money towards the remarkable, groundbreaking research at MSK, raising over $88 million since being founded in 1995.
It’s the 25th anniversary of Fred’s Team and the 50th New York City Marathon, making us even more excited to cross the finish line and help to: